Lies Told To Me
by Blue-Eliza
Summary: Hermione's life is turned upside down. Harry's off fighting Voldemort, Ron's busy with his family, so she stuck by herself, all summer long. Her parents figure it's the best time to tell her the truth about everything. Like how she was adopted, how her parents were Purebloods, and who she's arranged to marry!
1. Lie Number One: Blood and Identities

Hermione stared at the wall of her bedroom. She sighed and closed her eyes. What was she supposed to do all summer long? All her books were at Ron's. How could she have been so stupid as to leave them there? She couldn't do any magic yet, she was technically supposed to have one more year of Hogwarts before she could, but Harry had pulled a few strings at the Ministry. She still couldn't do any magic for another month, though. The owl she'd been using to owl Ron had gotten sick, it was at the vet as she sat there.

She literally had nothing to do. She had read all the books in the house already, even the boring ones about dentist stuff. She sighed as she looked at the wall. Normally she had the books for her next year of school, but now… Well they weren't going back next year. She wasn't used to sitting around and waiting, and now she understood why Harry hated it. Determined to keep herself busy she pulled out her crocheting.

She knew Harry and Ron had just been nice when they said her hats looked wonderful. She was getting better though, the last hat had actually resembled a hat and she could do socks almost perfectly. She wished she could be back at Hogwarts learning more magic, but with Dumbledore gone who knew how safe it was? She trusted McGonagall and her skill, but it couldn't really be compared with Dumbledore.

"Hermione!" Hermione gasped in shock. Her parents weren't supposed to be home for another hour. She quickly put down the yarn mess and walked to the stairway. She looked below to the next floor and saw her mother.

"Oh there you are dear, your father and I came home early. Why don't you come down? We want to talk to you," her mother called up smiling. Hermione sighed. Ever since three years ago, her and her mother had clashed horns, and therefore didn't talk much. Her and her father had always gotten along though. They spent hours just talking and messing around. There was something in her mother's voice that scared her, though, something that wasn't right, something that told her this talk was serious. She stepped down the stairs carefully trying to hide her worry. At a sudden thought she ran back upstairs and put her wand in her pocket. After all you never know when Voldemort might have taken over your parent's brains.

She joined her parents in the dining room where snacks had been prepared by their maid. Hermione refused to eat them, her parents knew how she felt about their servants, but according to her mother they worked far too late hours to have time to make food themselves, let alone clean house, and they paid the girl well. Hermione had become friends with the family maid, though she knew nothing of Hermione's magical side (it was something her parents had agreed should stay with only them).

She also hadn't told Harry or Ron about the wealth her family owned, but come on, her parents _were_ dentists after all. She would never feel right admitting to Ron that she was 'rich' or even to Harry. She sat down and looked at her parents who sat silently watching her.

"Hermione, dearest, we have something very important to tell you," her father began hesitantly.

"Yes, we've agreed that now is the best time for you to know. We would have told you everything earlier, but we were asked not to," her mother continued. Hermione was only left in confusion.

"Hermione, dear, we are not your real parents." The words hit her hard and she closed her eyes, almost ready to cry. She took a deep breath then opened them again. '_That's impossible. Why would they lie to me all these years?_' "Your real father left you with us when you were very young. He told us everything about being a witch and how you were what they called a Pureblood." Hermione looked up at her father from the table. Her eyes grew wide and she tried to blink away her surprise. Now that was impossible. She'd spent her whole life believing she was a Muggleborn, and now she was being told she was a Pureblood; it just made everything turn upside down.

"He also told us that your name was Virginia. He asked us to call you by a different name until you were through with school," her mother added.

"Since you won't be going back to Hogwarts, we decided it would be best if we told you now," her father said. Hermione nodded.

"May I go back to my room? This is a lot to take in and I need to think things over," Hermione asked carefully trying to get her head to stop spinning.

"In a minute, Hunny," her mother said, "there is still more." Hermione nodded and waited for them to go on.

"He told us that your mother had one wish before she died. She'd wanted you to marry another Pureblood," Her father slowly explained, "She had already made arrangements with his parents before she died."

"Who?" Hermione asked after swallowing. She watched her father carefully, waiting for her future to be decided for her. The slow realization that she that there was no way out and that she had been lied to all her life was beginning to dawn. Her heart wished that her father would say Ron, but her brain knew that even if her mother had been dieing, the Weasley's would not agree to sealing their child's future like that. She didn't have to wait long, though, for her father took a deep breath.

"Draco Malfoy." Hermione felt her heart sink and anger begin to build in her brain. Now that was not fair.

"Draco Malfoy!" Hermione shouted at her parents. "You have got to be kidding me! No, no, no! Never in a million years will I even agree to step foot in the same….building as him again!" Without another word Hermione ran up to her room and slammed her door.


	2. The Sword of Truth

"Draco Malfoy!" Hermione shouted at her parents. "You have got to be kidding me! No, no, no! Never in a million years will I even agree to step foot in the same….building as him again!" Without another word Hermione ran up to her room and slammed her door.

Hermione knew she wasn't one to get angry in fact the only two people she'd ever gotten mad at were Ron and Malfoy. She was mad at Ron because he could be a git at times but nothing that wasn't meaningless petty things. Draco, though, she hated him for real reasons. He was scum. He'd tried to kill Dumbledore after all. He was a Death Eater.

She angrily pulled parchment from a drawer and moved her ink and quill to her desk. She had to write Ron, or Harry or someone. Someone who would know who Malfoy was and would be as disgusted as her. She buried herself in the letter and making sure her letters didn't come out as scribbles from her shaking hand.

Hermione had never told her parents everything about her adventures at Hogwarts, in fact she'd simply gotten to okay to go to the Weasley's, or to the world cup, or to Grimmald place and then she was gone having more adventures. Her parents had only really heard about Ron and Harry and about the facts of Voldemort. Her parents were as worried as she about Harry and the fact that he was off alone fighting Voldemort. Her parents did not know Draco Malfoy, or Colin Creavey or anyone else in the school. They didn't know about the Sorcerer's Stone or the polyjuice potion, or even about the Chamber of Secrets. In reality her parents knew little about the magical world that there daughter knew so well.

Hermione sighed as she realized she was angry at her parents. They had lied to her and she was unprepared to take that in. She had been unprepared to take in the fact that she was a pureblood. But most of all, she'd been unprepared to learn that she was to marry Draco Malfoy. No matter what happened she would not do that, not matter what she had to do, she would never marry him.

There came a knock at her window. She looked up from her letter. A snowy white owl perched on the outside sill hooting happily. She threw open the window.

"Hedwig!" She shouted happily as the bird dropped a letter on her bed and hurried over to the empty cage and nibbled the left over bird food in the tray. She opened the letter and began to read.

_Dear Hermione,  
It has been a long time since we written each other, or even seen each other. Ron told me about your owl, I hope he gets better soon. I'm doing well. I found one of the Horcruxes. I'm working on figuring out how to destroy it. Soon there will only be three left. I hope you are well. Unfortunately the ministry will not give pardon for using under age magic for you and Ron. But hey you two turn 18 before me don't you? I'm planning on heading for the burrow for your birthdays. I hope you can make it. Ron says that he hates not being in the action, I bet you feel the same way. Anyways I kinda need to go. Please send mail with Hedwig, she doesn't mind delivering letters for you for a little while. I hope your doing well and hope to hear from you soon._

Harry Potter.

Hermione sighed and threw the letter aside. Hedwig hooted at her.

"Sorry girl…I'm just a little overwhelmed, I didn't mean to frighten you." A knock sounded from the door and Hermione turned to face it. She stood and looked at it, as if almost scared.

"Hairminee, you pareents ask me to give this." It was there servant girl, Emily. "Shall I set things by deoar?" Hermione loved Emily's mismatched English. Emily could master every language expect theirs. She'd even managed to teach Hermione French. Hermione opened the door and smiled at the girl with her perfect brown hair that went to her mid-torso.

"I'll take it Emily. You don't mix the and door together, it's the door not deoar…you'll get it."

"The deoar….the doar….the doar…I'm very unsure miss. Theank you." Emily handed Hermione a long thin package, attached to which was a quickly written note in her father's, or who she'd thought was her father, handwriting. "You parents have left for teeth reork."

"Thank you Emily. I will be down later for tea…I would like to perfect my French."

"Yes mad'am." Emily left with out another word.

Hermione threw the bundle on her bed. Only minutes later and her parents had gone back to work. They cared so much! So much! So much it hurt her. She sat down at her desk and lifted the quill again to finish the letter to Harry and then the one to Ron.

* * *

Draco Malfoy handed the binoculars to his fellow Death Eater. He sat in a nearby chair.

"Why does the master want her?" Draco's friend asked looking himself. "She lives like a pureblood only as a muggle."

"Yes, she does. But we are not meant to question the masters motives just do his will. Remember?" Draco said coldly as he takes a sip of a large glass of black liquid.

"Did you mother tell you?" The Death Eater asked.

"Of course she did." Draco sighed but took the binoculars back and watched the girl with the frizzy ginger hair carefully.

"Will you still do it?" Draco say her let the white owl fly out of the window. She looked out the window with a look of despair, hopeless sadness. Draco sneered handing the binoculars back to take another sip of the black drink.

"Of course I will. The dark lord gave another chance and I intend to take it. I shall do a better job than my father." The other death Eater watch the girl then smiled at Draco.

"The little idiot is on the move, just as we thought, her parents were to easy to control."

Draco sneered as he placed on the mask and pulled his hood up. He downed the glass and picked up his black wand.

"She's playing right into our hands, this will be far to easy. Let's go!" Together the two masked Death Eaters left the small windowed room.

* * *

Hermione opened the note attached to the package Emily had left with her. At least she wasn't bored anymore. She could say that. She sat back on her bed her frizzy hair falling to itch her shoulders. Some times she thought it was far to long and that she should cut it, but Ron liked it long. She smiled at the day he told her that. She had so many found memories with Ron and Harry. Now she felt like the left out one. She closed her eyes and then focused on reading the letter.

_Virginia,_

I know this is hard and must be quite a shock to you. But you must know that it was all I could at the time to protect you. My wife was caught up in a massive Death Eater Scandal. But then I hope you do not know what I mean but Death Eaters…the point is she had made an unbreakable vow with the Malfoy's for their son and your marriage… but things went wrong, it was worded in just a way that our end must be held but not hers. I will tell you will not die if you do not marry the Malfoy boy but simple that is bound by magical law to happen. I am dreadful sorry that things have turned out this way, and that I could not have taken care of you, but with the Potter's death I know that I am the next target and I must protect you. I hope one day we will meet and be able to become family even if we can not be together now. You already look like your mother.

I give three things to your parents that I trust they will give to you. A locket, in which has the Ravenclaw inscription, my brother gave to my wife the day before died. A black dagger that has been in the family for years and should stay in which. I am sure you will find that is has unique properties. And a sword. It is the sword of truth and was your mother's it has the power to bind people to their word and detect lies. In time you will learn how to use it.  
  
_I wish you luck my daughter, and if we never meet I hope you succeed in life._

With Dearest wishes,

Your True Father

Hermione unwrapped the package. It was indeed a sword, and at the top were the locket and the black dagger. Hermione closed her eyes then looked out her window. She was determined now. She grabbed a duffle bag from the closet. She loaded clothes into it and then her magic supplies and then the sword and dagger. She wore the locket from her father and put her wand in her pocket. She opened her bedroom door and snuck down the stairs so Emily would not hear her. The door was opened and closed without a sound. Then Hermione Granger had run away in the first time of her life.


	3. Dreams

Sorry about the confusion with the first two chapters. Here is the third.

* * *

_Far Away And Long Ago_

"Harry Are you okay?" Ron's voice echoed through the room. Harry Potter sat on the couch looking at the paper in his hand.  
_  
When Everything Is Well I May Come Back_

Hedwig hooted from her cage not so far away. Ron stood in the door way looking like he had just woken up. Harry tossed a letter at him with out moving from the couch. He just stared at the letter.

_Just Pretend…_

"It's from Hermione!" Ron said excitedly and sat down to read it.

_You Never Knew Me…_

"I wouldn't be so excited Ron…" Harry's voice was quiet and unexpectedly cold. He place his letter down ran his hand through his hair. "Not if your letter is anything like mine."

_You Will Never Know…_

Ron looked confused but opened the letter anyway. Slowly he read the page of Hermione's careful cursive and then he gasped. A single tear blended into Ron's freckles by the time he had finished reading.  
_  
How Sorry I Am._

"She didn't!" He screamed out at Harry with immense surprised and shock, but with even more pain.

_Goodbye Harry._

"I'm afraid she did Ron…Makes me feel that much worse about my letter…"

_Goodbye Ron._

"But Hermione's always been so brave…" Ron said hiding his face.

"Something must have changed…." Harry stood up and grabbed his wand off the table. "I'm just glad we deiced not to tell her, she would have reacted worse than Ginny…"

* * *

_The wind whispered through the trees and the moon shown bright on the muggle park. A single swing was occupied by a young boy. He rocked back and forth unaware of eyes upon him. A guitar lay in his hand as he rocked on is heels his fingers thumbed the string. His mouth moved with the simple words urging to be said but not quite getting past his lips. Then as a clock far off stroke for midnight he let the words come free like a prisoner of the night._

"Hey there Virginia  
Don't you worry about the distance  
I'm right there if you get lonely  
Give this song another listen  
Close your eyes  
Listen to my voice it's my disguise  
I'm by your side_"_

His voice was drowned away but the giggling of girl who ran up to swing next to him and sat so quickly you might not have seen her if she hadn't stopped.

"I've been listening to all the songs you've written me," Her voice echoed through the park but only he heard them. "And I've hardly thought of anyone but you."

"What would James think," the boy said slowly as his fingers halted the throbbing strings, "of me marrying a Slytherin."

"What?" The girl looked confused as he bent down on his knee. "Oh!" She giggled with joy as he placed his guitar and thumbed through his pockets. "You're not…"

"Virginia will you marry me?" the boy asked as the cool night air and sweet moon light glittered across the enchanted diamond.

"Oh my! You are! Of course!" She bent down as he placed the ring on her finger, then he kissed her.

The wind dragged away. The couple sat on the swings, dragging their heels through the dirt.

"What will you do when my parents kill me?"

"Take care of our child of course…" There was a giggle and brown curly hair swished up and down.

"What makes you think I'll let there be a child?" The girl's unmistakable smile teased the poor teenage boy.

"You've never resisted me before." More giggles came from the girl.

"Too true…but I have one request…"

"Anything just say the words." The boy kissed the girl yet again and she had to wait until his lips had left hers to talk, not that she didn't enjoy it.

"When I do die, I want you to do me a favor."

"I've told you before, you won't die. I won't let them take you!" The boy's eyes shown with a fierce intensity only they could hold.

"I want our child to marry a pureblood."

"What?" The boy had been shocked into unbelief.

"I've always thought the Malfoy's would be a good blood line," the girl went on as if the boy had said nothing.

"Virginia!" the boy shouted.

"What do you say?" she asked looking up as if he was not visibly upset.

"No!"

"What? I thought you said you'd do anything for me…" she looked disappointed, almost hurt, but they both knew her looks were an act, she did truly understand him.

"Anything but that, you know who the Malfoy's are. They're known Death Eaters."

"But so are my family, what's to say their little boy won't break the mold. Please, arrange it for me, when I'm gone." Suddenly true sadness shown on the girl's face, something seemed to be troubling her.

"You won't leave but I will. I will arrange the marriage, only if I can not protect you from them…"

"Thank you, baby," the girl kissed the boy deeply. Seventeen and so madly in loved, it was sad that there connection would never last quite as long as they would hope and dream.

* * *

Hermione's eyes shoot open. She'd heard a voice singing in the night and a creak of metal. She looked around. She was very near the park from her dream. Now if only she could make out the faces, she'd recognized the girl's hair. It was almost identical to her own, just a little lighter. She knew who they were but if only she could find the names. The girl, her name had been Virginia. That was her new name, wasn't it? She lifted the duffle bag from the ground and swung it to her shoulder. The sword of truth made a clink in the bag but was unheard to all but her. There was the voice again, what was he saying?

"Virginia!" She almost took off running, but stopped herself. Maybe this would be good for her check out. She gripped her bag tightly as she walked down the sidewalk toward the voice sitting on the same swing as the young man of her dream. As she got closer it became quite quiet. She looked around and heard nothing, not a sound. Even the swing had stopped drifting in the wind. Thinking herself foolish, she turned to go.

"Thought you'd come," the drawling voice was unmistakable in the night air. Her blood rose up in her veins as soon as she recognized it.

"Draco Malfoy!" she screamed turning to face him.


	4. Talk With Death

"Draco Malfoy!" she screamed turning to face him.

"Yes, it's good to see you know my name, but do you know your own," the blonde boy smirked with a look to his eyes that showed far more joy than she was used to. She lost her nerve and took a step back.

"What," she began in a level but nasty voice, "do you want?" His smirked widen and her took a step closer to her.

"You're not afraid of me, are you?" He raised a blonde eyebrow with more pleasure than suspicion. She saw this as well, but could not explain it. Instead she took another step backward and fell into the swing. She sat there looking up into the eyes of a person she now loathed worse then anything, and she felt unafraid and completely calm, and it scared her.

"Never," she whispered which caused his expression to change drastically as his wand whipped out of its spot in his pocket.

"You should be." The wand poked her skin on her throat but even as he showed every sign of killing her in the next second, she was calm. Even as his eyes turned murderous, she looked back at him.

"What do you want Draco Malfoy?" His shock was quite clear; he had expected her courage to falter then, and for her to scream and cry for mercy before he sent the curse.

"And it's not what I want that you should be worrying about, but what the dark lord wants." Hermione, with all her courage, was indeed afraid of that. The Dark Lord wanted her….

"What does he want then?" Even though her voice held her confidence, she knew by Draco's smirk that her eyes had given her away. Her hand shook against the chain of the swing as she sat defenseless and cornered on its plastic seat.

"He wants to see you… Are you going to come with me or will I have to call some friends for help?" Draco's voice was calm and full of enjoyment as if his words were stripping her of her every essence.

"Do you know?" Hermione's voice shook, but not with only fear. Draco smirked and leaned close to her face, right next to her ear. She could feel his cool breath on her check and could smell odd spices. Her heart skipped a beat in her chest and she'd half expected him to kiss her. She'd even raised her hand off the metal of the swing to slap him.

"You are to marry me, Virginia. You mother wanted it, but I know for a fact your father would have hated it. Of course I know. It's not easily to treat one of such Pureblood in such a fowl manner but I've manage to keep the illusion whole for three years." As he said it shivers ran down her back and she closed her eyes. For a second they sat there inches away in the cold night air. Then Hermione opened her eyes and Draco was standing in front of her, his wand touching her throat again. Her face felt warm but she was hoping that was just because he's cold breath was no longer resting above it.

"Will my life be in danger?" Hermione asked her voice shaking yet again. She knew all too well that, unless Draco only had one Death Eater friend waiting to help take her in, she stood no chance. She knew that it would be less dangerous and less painful to walk quietly into his hands. She also knew it'd be insane.

"No, and I'm willing to make an unbreakable vow upon it," his voice was as cold as his breath had been but it was serious. Some how she knew that he wasn't lying, but she didn't want to trust him. She wanted to believe that he would stab her in the back the first chance he got. She didn't want to take the risk of trust him. She wanted to have Ron and Harry there to help her.

"Very well," Hermione voice shook with fear as she stood up, "I will go with you." The defeated tone she held made Draco smirk widen.

"You are smarter than you look." Then he grabbed onto her arm and they Apparated away.

* * *

The world was dark. Everything was lifeless and colorless. She felt like she had been blasted into a world that had never seen light. Each step took deeper in the depths of darkness. A pale hand clutched her arm, kept her going through the darkness, made her step forward. Fear spiked to its peak in her brain. Every step took her closer and closer to an evil thing, an evil thing she'd thought she'd never have to meet. As she laid her foot back upon the ground it slipped from underneath her. The world seemed to melt away; nothing existed but the fact that she was falling through blackness. The pale hand stopped her fall though with its tight grip. It, amazingly, brought her back to reality, back to the ground.

"We do need a little light, don't we Granger…" the voice was just as cold and eerie as ever. A faint pale light penetrated the darkness. Though that light was weak it prevented her from tripping again. Or was that perhaps her embarrassment?

A metal door loomed nearer and nearer as they walked. She closed her eyes for a second, trying to pretend she was not moving closer to what she wanted to run away from. Her eyes shot open as if they were on fire, she'd seen the flash of green from behind her eye lids and now she saw it at the edge of the door.

She knew the person was dead before she heard the thud and then the hissing of a snake. She swallowed. What had possessed her to come so quietly? She wasn't going to die. She was a Pureblood. The dark lord wouldn't kill her. He wouldn't spill blood so pure…How pure was her blood? Would she ever know? What if this was a trap? What would Harry say if he knew she'd walked so willingly, so easily into Voldemort's clutches?

Fear warmed its way into her body in a way it never had before. Perhaps the sorting hat had been right, maybe she wasn't cut out for Gryffindor. Maybe she should have been a Ravenclaw? Self Doubt planted itself far deeper than the fear could. Could this really be the end? Could she have let it end like this?

She gripped her wand in her pocket. If Voldemort was to kill her she would at least go down fighting for her life.

"Enter." Hermione did a double take. The voice sounded like a snake had been speaking. So was that how Voldemort really sounded? The pale hands opened the door but before she could even take a step toward it she felt the icy breath on the back of her neck.

"Be careful. I wouldn't want my fiancé to get killed before we've even kissed." Hermione was unsure which gave her shivers, the cold laugh or the words. A hand gave her a gentle push forward and she knew there was no other option. Walk forward. As she stepped over the threshold of the room the door slammed behind her.

"Virginia…." Hermione was not used to being called that, but it was happening more and more often. After all, it was her name. The Dark Lord sat facing away from her. He stared into a fire as he sat straight backed in an armchair. A bony hand gestured to an empty armchair on the other side of a small table. Upon the table sat two glasses and a bottle that looked to be filled with very strong Fairyrum. With shaking legs and downcast head Hermione managed to sit upon the chair without passing out.

Now in the presents of the Dark Lord her fear had reached incomprehensible highs. Her teeth chatter in the cold of the room and her hand had gone numb on her wand. Even with the fire her breath seemed to turn to ice as she breathed. If the Dark Lord chose to act here it wouldn't matter how much will she had, her body was too cold to fight.

"Virginia…" the Dark Lord said again in his snake like voice. Shivers ran down Hermione's back but she continued to look at the fire and not let her fear control her. "I knew your mother quite well." As interesting as the facts were Hermione was too cold and too scared to show her interest. She was just hoping that he had simply wanted to talk to her.

"Wormtail!" the sudden change in the Dark Lords voice made Hermione jump. Her eyes drifted to the man the Dark Lord had screamed at. He was hunched over in the corner cradling something silver. His beady little rat eyes met with Hermione's for just a moment before he hurried over.

"Yes Master?" he asked evidently. Hermione expect him to kneel before the man and kiss his feet. Wormtail stay on his feet though, waiting for his orders with respect and fear.

"Get our guest a coat…I am afraid she is cold."

'Get our guest a coat…I am afraid she is cold' The words echoed through Hermione's head. 'Guest…afraid…' She blinked but dared not look toward to great man of power. The seeds of self doubt that had planted themselves earlier spoke to her now. What if Voldemort was not so bad? What if it was Harry who was wrong?

As soon as she thought it she shook it away. She had seen the flash and heard the snake eat. She knew that she had witnessed some murder in the faintest of ways. Wormtail returned quickly with a coat covered in fur.

"Thank you," Hermione was surprised by the meek quiet told of her voice as she took the coat and quickly warmed herself with it.

"Now that is fixed, I shall go on." For as cold and snake like as his voice was, it held the tone of kind conversation. For the first time, since Hermione had Apparated with Draco, she felt no fear. It was as if it had been soaked into the coat along with her cold. She closed her eyes just to listen to voice that seemed to grow less terrifying and more human with every word.

"I knew your mother, when she was alive. Her family as well. They were loyal to blood." Behind her eyes, Hermione pictured herself in the Gryffindor common room, sitting in the armchair facing the fire. Voldemort sat in one next to hers, which was where the couch had been.

"Did…Did they work for you?" Hermione dared herself to ask in that small meek voice she had suddenly obtained. It was as if she was a different person, two people. In her head she heard the sounds of spell work, pages turning, talking students, and a phoenix song in the background.

"All but your mother had joined my cause, yes. I have faults I will admit. It was those faults that both of your parents could not overlook, no matter the cause." Hermione dared herself to open her eyes again and she almost gasped with fear.

The dark dungeon room had melted away and she sat in the Gryffindor common room. She looked all around the room it was perfect to the exact detail. The phoenix song still echoed through the background. Her eyes drifted upward to Voldemort. She expected the man to look as Harry described him. She expected to look away in fear and in disgust. Instead she looked upon the face of a young man, probably fresh out of school. Lord Voldemort sat before her looking much like the Tom Riddle he used to be.

"I see my spell has surprised you. I wanted you to be comfortable for our talk. Most people will not even listen when they are afraid, cold and in an unfamiliar place. If there is anything you need while you are here please do not be afraid to ask," his voice was much like Harry's, expect Harry's had almost always held anger. Voldemort's was calm and pleasant.

"How long will…will I be staying?" Hermione voice shook and she had to swallow midway through. Was she still afraid? Or was it something else?

"Just until our talk is over, I do not want your friends to know of it. As pure as Weasley's blood it is a shame that he has betrayed us all." Hermione was shocked. How could Voldemort say such things?

"Sir," she mumbled it out as fast as she could, "how could Ron have betrayed us?" Voldemort smiled at her. It was unexpectedly charming.

"In this world, Virginia, as with many others, we all take orders from those more powerful than us. We are not meant to questions those orders. You are told to go to school, so you go. You may ask why, but wither it is answered or not you know that you will go to school. It is basically the same throughout all aspects of life." Hermione nodded but she did not believe that Voldemort was saying this to her. "Even if you are not aware of the orders you still follow them. It creates an order to the world and a balance. There are, however, people like your friend, who wither they realize it have disobeyed the orders. With the orders messed up, balance is wrecked and people are given the impression of good and evil. There is no such thing, only power."

"What about Harry?" Hermione asked her voice shaking only slightly. "Has he broken out of the order?"

"No." The single word took all her breath away. Something in her clicked with relief as if the fact that Harry was still following this 'order' that Voldemort was crazily making up. "No, he is doing his part…he will kill me in the end." As if what had already been said wasn't enough! The conversation kept making Voldemort more and more human. It scared her.

The man she had always seen as someone with no morals, no soul and no reality was suddenly turning out to have all of those things. Her eyes drifted around the room. What about all the deaths? What was he saying earlier about her parents?

"What about my parents? Did they stay inside the order?"

"Your mother did. Unfortunately your father only slipped once, but it was that chance that caused much to go wrong in the universe. The orders change when someone breaks… and when that happens sometimes we are forced to do things we wouldn't enjoy… Thus evil and good seem to have formed an image on a figure." Voldemort set his graze upon Hermione rather than the fire.

"Virginia, your mother, if she was here, would have loved to see you go along with your arranged marriage. She never joined me, in fact she fought against me, but she left a message with me to give to you. Even though she fought against us, the battlefield always seemed to be a different place than the threshold of her home or the walls of her school. It hadn't mattered to her who you were on that battlefield, when you were off of it, you were not an enemy." Hermione gaze drifted toward Voldemort and those teenage eyes locked with hers. "You look like her, and her mother."

With that second Hermione's brain seemed to freeze on so many conclusions at once. She knew what Voldemort would say next and she knew what she must say. She also knew what she would have to do. Even as she didn't want to, she knew what must be done. Whether Voldemort lied or not she would have to do one thing. It was the orders she was given. In that same second the Gryffindor common room melted away into the cold stone of the dungeon.

"I have but one final thing to say to you, Virginia." Voldemort had turned back into his current self and Hermione looked away fear spreading through her veins with the sudden sight. His voice was as rough as a snake's again. "Will you join me in my cause to purge the world of all those with no magical blood?"

Hermione swallowed with the fear and strangeness of the situation. She knew she must say no, but she knew it meant the risk of death.

"No. I will not." The worlds were strong and clear. Apparently, her voice was back to normal.

"Draco! Show her out…" Hermione's hand finally let go of her wand as she stood. Draco opened the door and held out his arm for her to take. She did, begrudgingly. When the door closed again it was a world of pitch black sea.

The preasure on her neck was unmistakably a wand. Shivers from his ice breath were unavoidable. She closed her eyes knowing that now was when she would die. It would be ironic that Draco would do it. That the man she was supposed to marry would be the one to kill her.

"Will you ever speak of this?" His cold sneering voice held it's silent threat. Her heart beat faster than she ever knew it could. Her body shivered with cold she never knew existed. So this was what war was like?

"Never," her voice was hardly louder than a breath. It used no more energy than blinking. It hardly reached his ears.

"Do I have your word?" The light pressure on her neck increased until it dug into her skin, deep enough to leave a mark.

"Yes." For the fear rushing through her body she was surprisingly collected. The pressure was removed but the breath still breathed onto her back. It moved slowly until she could feel it on her ear, in her ear. She could almost feel his skin it was so close.

"I will pick you up at seven. Meet me at the end of the road. Be sure to be alone." Each word caused lips to brush against her ear and butterflies to flutter unwanted in her stomach. "Wear something nice, and Muggle."

The cold breath withdrew, and did not wait for an answer to lead her on down the hallway. Hermione knew that she would be there for the date she had never been asked on, and she knew that with in seconds she would be Apparated back to park. As she felt the grip of Draco on her arm she looked back toward the big metal door, quite unsure what to think.


End file.
